North High and South High both earned Golden Eagle awards, which are NISPA's highest honor.

Both North High School and South High School in Downers Grove earned top honors at the 2018 Northern Illinois Scholastic Press Association (NISPA) Conference in April 2018.

North High received two Golden Eagle awards, which is NISPA’s highest honor. North High’s Omega newspaper won a Silver Certificate for its online publication and a Gold Certificate for its print edition. Also, North High’s Cauldron Yearbook and Omega newspaper won Golden Eagle trophies.

For the first time in South High history, the Blueprint newspaper won a Golden Eagle and they were named Sectional Champions.

“We’re so proud of the hard work and dedication of our Blueprint newspaper staff,” said South High English teacher and Journalism sponsor Mary Long. “Our students proudly earned the first-ever Golden Eagle trophy in South High history.”

“Congratulations to our Omega Newspaper and Cauldron Yearbook staff,” said North High English teacher and Journalism sponsor Elizabeth Levin. “It is wonderful to see our students earn such high honors and recognition for their hard work.”

At the conference, hundreds of high school journalists and their advisors from across Chicagoland met to share their experiences, improve their skills and recognize their accomplishments, and hear a keynote address from a professional journalist. NISPA is dedicated to preparing young people to live up to the highest ideals of the First Amendment.

Each spring students are encouraged to submit scholastic yearbook, web and print publications to compete against area high schools in journalistic writing, editing, photography and design. Top performers in four divisions are awarded the prestigious Golden Eagle.

Listed below are the staff and individual awards for North and South High:

South High AwardsFirst-time awards for South High Blueprint Newspaper:

Sectional Champions

Golden Eagle: NISPA’s highest honor

South High individual sectional awards:

Barbara Collins in News: 2nd place - state qualifier

Marc Alvarez in Editorial Writing: 1st place - state qualifier

Jonah Ocuto in Broadcast News: 3rd place - state qualifier

Jayna Bardahl in Sports Writing: 3rd place - state qualifier

Sydney Hall in Yearbook Caption Writing: 2nd place - state qualifier

Donte Reed in Yearbook Two-Page Spread: 2nd place - state qualifier

Rhaya Truman in Review Writing: 3rd place - state qualifier

Elizabeth Szpytek in Headline Writing: 1st place - state qualifier

Emmanuelle Copeland in Editorial Cartooning: 3rd place - state qualifier